


Subcontracting

by sidana



Category: Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter - Laurell K. Hamilton
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 11:25:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16218041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sidana/pseuds/sidana
Summary: A day in the life of Ronnie





	Subcontracting

Disclaimer: not my characters, not my universe, I'll put them back where I found them when I'm done playing with them

Originally posted at Pomme De Sang

Subcontracting

*********************

Ronnie looked over the packet in the manila envelope one last time, making sure everything that was supposed to be there was in there. She took pride in her job, and wanted to make sure it was done right, so the packet included not only printouts of the best of the pictures, but also the complete series of photos from her digital camera burned to CD and DVD formats in case someone else would see something she had missed. Folding the flap of the envelope closed, she walked into the kitchen to grab a Diet Coke, managing to pour a glass and get a few gulps of it in before she heard the knock on the door.

She set the glass on the kitchen counter, checked the peephole, and with a smile, opened the door up for Bobby Lee.

"So how did it go this time?" he asked as he walked into her living room.

"Easier than a lot of the divorce cases I've done. It was like they weren't even worried about being seen together," she said, picking up the envelope to pass it to Bobby Lee.

"Oh they definitely were. It's just that every precaution they took involved keeping the cops away, and being set up to know if anything preternatural comes within about a three block radius of them," Bobby Lee said with a smile.

"And they didn't even think to notice one lone human female taking pictures left and right."

"Which was their mistake in it all, sugar," he said as he began to look through the printed photos. "Excellent work like you always do."

"Surveillance work's been my bread and butter ever since I hung out my private investigator's shingle. If I didn't figure out how to get the money shot, I never would have lasted in the business."

"Rafael's been very happy with what you've done for him too, and he said to say that whenever he needed a human for that kind of work again, you're at the top of his list."

"And you can tell Rafael that I'm always glad to work for him." The pay was always good when you worked for the rats, and they were always honest with you. Her divorce cases lied to her half the time, and more than once, those lies had come back to bite her on the ass.

"Nice to hear that it seems to be turning into a beautiful friendship, honey childe," Bobby Lee said, his smile briefly deepening before his face went serious. "He also asked me to pass along one other message."

"Okay," she said. The tone of Bobby Lee's voice suggested he didn't think it would go over well.

"Rafael also said if it was something you ever wanted, you were welcome to join the family. He knows and I know some of the reasons why you're having problems with Louie, but he hopes you can take it as the complement it was intended to be since he doesn't often make that kind of offer to a civilian."

"Then you better hurry on back and tell Rafael I'm flattered, but it's a definite 'no' right now," she said, all but shoving Bobby Lee out the door of her home, and then collapsing onto her couch.

One thing that she had learned along the line was that you never showed fear in front of a lycanthrope. Bobby Lee was a friend, but she couldn't let him see how Rafael's offer threw her into a panic attack that left her wrapped into a tight ball on her sofa as she cried her eyes out. Forget marriage, the rodere were the ultimate 'until death do you part' organization. If you joined up with them, you were stuck with them the rest of your life no matter how bad things went with them.

And no matter how much she wished the world was different and that the romance novels were right at least once in a while, there was just no one on earth that she could make that kind of commitment to. Because in the end, it always went bad somehow, and no matter how much she loved Louie, it would just fail the same way every other relationship in her life had failed.


End file.
